This designer’s jewellery takes you into a world full of buttons

“Are they really buttons?” asked those who took a few more seconds to realise that her jewellery was full of buttons — large and small, round and shiny, in whites, blues and browns.

Having watched her father, who started a button making business a few decades ago, create buttons out of natural materials like cotton and coconut shells during her childhood, Vibitha eventually turned into an entrepreneur for her love of buttons.

“About eight years ago, when I was pursuing an undergraduate degree in visual arts from Loyola College, I worked on a button-themed fashion show for my final project. I collected several vintage and metal buttons and tailored them onto clothes. Later, when I moved to the UK to pursue my graduation, I got exposed to the concept of upcycling. It was at a time when slow fashion and upcycling was yet to become popular in our country. That was when I decided to reuse discarded buttons to create jewellery,” recollects Vibitha on how the brand ‘Vie’ came to life.

The jewellery brand, which began last year, draws its name as an acronym of the designer’s full name. “The word ‘vie’ also means life in French. The idea of the jewellery is to give a second chance to buttons that would have been wasted otherwise,” she stresses. With connections in the fashion world through her family’s button-making business, Vibitha began sourcing buttons from high-end haute couture brands like Burberry, Giorgio Armani and Hugo Boss. “The procured buttons are those that are rejected by the fashion labels because there is a difference in their glow or due to a minor defect. The buttons also carry the fashion brand’s name on the back of the design,” she adds. She also uses buttons made of coconut shell and corozo (vegetable ivory) to create her unique designs that hero the buttons. From necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings to even clutches — Vibitha makes use of minimal amount of metal to hold the buttons and the design in place.

The brand has had two collections out so far — ‘Raw’, inspired by Australia during the designer’s time spent Down Under during the past, and ‘Circle of Vie’, taking after the minimalism loved by Parisians. “The first autumn-winter collection takes inspiration from Australian weather, and uses buttons and toggles from winter jackets, while Circle of Vie is a spring-summer collection that is geometric and minimal,” she says. “Buttons are very important as they are the bare essentials of any clothing. I wanted to bring their importance into jewellery while highlighting the button,” adds Vibitha. Her products are also available in Australia and Europe in stores with upcycled products, besides being accessible from across India, US, UK and other countries through her website. “I’m keen to take the jewellery to as many cities as I can. It is exciting to see people be intrigued by buttons,” she remarks.